but his life changed completely by having to work in order to send money home and to also pay for his studies. He had to complete the last three years of high school, 5th, 6th and 7th, for free, studying at night, if and when his work permitted. Surviving was hard, difficult and not very pleasant for the young man at his tender age, with a simultaneous work and study schedule. There were several jobs. The first one was to keep the accounting of a furniture store, while managing it on Calle Valverde, owned by a family friend of his mother – Caledonian Hernandez -a "good and fair man" who helped him a lot during those years of loneliness, anxiety, hunger and misery. Since he didn't make enough money by working at this job, he set up a stationery along with a Basque man- Aldamiz – but the experience would be short – just a few months – because of the many difficulties involved in the business at the time. His first residence was a modest pension in Fuencarral Street where Odon Betanzos found a room to be isolated with his books. Later, his mother decided to settle in Madrid with two of her five children, Manuel and Marisol, and together with Odon, they resided in the home of a sister of his mother's. They finally had their own home. Among the many difficulties a new one was added: Caledonian Hernandez died and the business disappeared with his death, which meant that Odon lost his job and became wrapped in a sea of confusion. He had to find new employment. Odon Betanzos made his way through the Merchant Navy career in Cadiz, as he himself said, "to raise my family," as from the 1940s he sailed the seven seas. In 1956, he stopped sailing while in Caracas, Venezuela where, along with two Spanish friends, he formed an import/export company. The deal yielded no results, despite so many efforts, because it needed more capital available to them. It was precisely in the short time he lived in Venezuela – just four months – that he met and became involved with the outstanding figures of the country. Despite the favorable social environment as they moved in those lands, he decided to settle permanently in the New York City because the climate was not propitious. He settled there in 1956 and in this